Saturday, November 03, 2012

Bishops Warn Voting for Democrats is 'Grave Sin'

Given the 2012 Democrat Party pro-abortion platform, and the ObamaCare assault on religious liberty, Roman Catholic bishops across America are directing local priests to inform their flocks of the eternal risks of voting for candidates who support abortion and/or who fight the Church.

Catholic Diocese of Peoria Bishop Daniel Jenky's letter [to his flock] says the president and the current majority in the U.S. Senate have been unwilling to consider Catholic objections to a requirement that insurance companies provide birth control to employees of religious organizations.

The letter says voters who enable "the destruction of innocent human life in the womb" are "guilty of grave sin." Jenky instructed priests to read it at every Mass over the weekend.

The letter continues: "Today, Catholic politicians, bureaucrats, and their electoral supporters who callously enable the destruction of innocent human life in the womb also thereby reject Jesus as their Lord. They are objectively guilty of grave sin."

Jenky ordered diocesan priests to read his latest broadside from their pulpits, telling them: “By virtue of your vow of obedience to me as your bishop, I require that this letter be personally read by each celebrating priest at each weekend Mass.”

[Jenky wrote,] “Since the foundation of the American Republic and the adoption of the Bill of Rights, I do not think there has ever been a time more threatening to our religious liberty than the present . . . For those who hope for salvation, no political loyalty can ever take precedence over loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his Gospel of Life.”

. . . Green Bay, Wisconsin, Bishop David Ricken wrote in an October 24 letter that the Democratic Party platform support for marriage equality and abortion rights and other “intrinsic evils” puts parishoners’ souls at risk if they support the Democrats.

The Catholic bishops of Pennsylvania wrote a letter to voters last week arguing that abortion, contraception and marriage equality policies supported by the Obama administration and Democrats mean America is “losing its soul by little steps.”

Days before the presidential election, several Catholic bishops are making a final pitch to their flocks to vote, with some arguing that the last-minute appeals sound like powerful and partisan endorsements for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney over President Obama.

In his final election message to the Diocese of Arlington and Catholics who live in northern Virginia, the Most Rev. Paul S. Loverde wrote [in part]:

We are first Catholics, not Democrats or Republicans, and recognizing our Catholic identity and the immutable truths of our faith, we must make the best decision we can according to our consciences, properly informed by the Church’s official teaching. . . .

. . . As Catholics, we must recognize that the defense of religious liberty is necessary if we, as individuals and as a Church, are to preserve our ability to practice in our daily lives and in the public square all that we profess at Mass each Sunday. . . .

. . . Abortion is no abstract topic or public policy issue without consequence in the present elections. The party platforms and political advertisements we see and hear each today confirm that the lives of the unborn, the weakest and most innocent amongst us, are still squarely in the public debate, and our votes do have consequences with respect to this “unspeakable crime,” both here at home and in nations abroad. If we do not defend life at its beginning at conception, then there is no life for us to develop and protect thereafter. It is the first right.

On Thursday, the bishops of Pennsylvania — a crucial battleground state where most Catholics are currently supporting Obama — released a letter to voters declaring that policies on contraception, abortion and gay rights backed by the White House and Democrats meant the nation was “losing its soul by little steps.”

In Wisconsin, Green Bay Bishop David Ricken wrote an Oct. 24 letter saying that the Democratic platform’s support for abortion rights and same-sex marriage and other “intrinsic evils” made it impossible for Catholics to support the party without putting their souls at risk.

That same day, Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio’s column in the diocesan newspaper said that voting for a candidate who supports policies on contraception coverage and abortion rights — as Obama does — “stretches the imagination, especially when there is another option.”

Across the continent in Alaska, Juneau Bishop Edward J. Burns wrote a column in the local newspaper on Oct. 27 comparing Vice President Joe Biden’s support for abortion rights to supporting slave owners in the antebellum South, and he questioned Biden’s character and Catholic faith.

Donna Doucette, of the group Voice of the Faithful — a Catholic lay group that seeks structural change in the Catholic Church — said Jenky and others like him threaten the Catholic Church’s tax exempt status by appearing to support a specific candidate.

Although the letter does not specifically urge Catholics to vote for Mitt Romney, and doesn’t mention President Barack Obama by name, it compares the president and Senate Democrats to those who killed Jesus.

Doucette calls the level of political involvement by some Catholic bishops this election year “unprecedented.”

A Washington-based ethics group has filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service alleging Catholic bishops, including Green Bay Bishop David Ricken, are violating the IRS ban on certain political activity by nonprofit organizations.

The group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington . . . specifically highlighted comments by Ricken, who sent a letter to Catholics last week warning that their souls would be in danger if they voted for candidates who support gay marriage or abortion rights, generally Democrats; and Peoria Bishop Daniel Jenky, who directed his priests to read a statement accusing the Obama administration of waging an assault on religious freedom "without precedent in the American political and legal system." Jenky had previously compared Obama to Hitler and Stalin.

The Church itself is very clear in its teaching, but the truth of the Church’s message can be lost in the deluge of political ads and speeches aimed at getting votes. In these critical days leading up to the election, it’s imperative that we reach out to our friends and family members to explain the non-negotiables for Catholic voters.

Catholics must be aware of the five non-negotiables (abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning and the redefinition of marriage) which are intrinsic evils that cannot be supported. Voting to limit evil on these moral issues far outweighs any position on economic policy or issue of government-provided financial assistance in any election. Voting for a candidate who favors and supports any of the five non-negotiables could lead one to be morally complicit with promoting these intrinsic evils, putting one’s soul in jeopardy, as Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay courageously said last week.

[Also,] Catholics going into the election booth on Tuesday should be aware of the very real threat to our religious freedom.

As the saying goes, work like it all depends on you, pray as if it all depends on God.